What Goes into Making Human Robot Girls, 1941

JF Ptak Science Books LLC  Post 907

[See the follow-up post "First Thing to Do is to Find Some Men"; How to Get a Boy-date, 1941]

An old friend of mine, Dr. Sam Koslov, was  brilliant, accomplished and polymathic, with great senses of wonder, inquisitiveness and humor.  He spent many years in research and as a long-time editor at Johns Hopkins APL.  He was a delightful and serious man, though one of the projects he worked on sounded much more like squeaky scifi than pure sci. That was Project Pandora, and science fiction it definitely wasn’t—it was an attempt at a form of control over human behavior via low level microwave radiation¹. 

This came to mind as I was leading through some very low level, high impact behavior control exhibited in a series of social engineering pamphlets published by the Ladies’ Home Journal in the early 1940’s.  It is heartbreaking, really, to think of people like my mother reading these things and being inundated by cultural architecture that left little to the imagination.  It seems so terrifically outrageous in 2010; and of course it makes me wonder about what things that seem so de rigueur today will be the Ladies’ Home Embarrassments of 2050 . 

Granted, nobody's corneas were being shaken loose via this method, but the effect of the sentiments of control in these pamphlets still seem eye-poppingly strangulating.  I’ve included only a few examples here, but there are at least a hundred others to choose from.

Perhaps it was the Date-Rate pamphlet that caused most of my teeth to fall out—it is sheer and painful, offering virtually nothing to the young women reading it and practicing its morality play but gender obedience and servility.

“Did you give him all your attention?” “Did he run things?” “Did you give him a chance to impress you?” “Could you make him laugh?”  It isn’t until the final rating question (#25) that we get to something that opened the possibility of a two-way interest in the relationship, but only barely: “Did you find you liked the same things?”  Its sad, really. 

When I read some of this to my 17-year-old daughter, she just looked at me with an open mouth and eyebrow furrows:  it was simply beyond listening to, for her, and certainly not anywhere near worthy of a response. 

 

Of course this is just the tip of the tip of the tippity tip of the iceberg on the control of social thought and the keeping of the male-dominated social order, and its only one part of a very wide spectrum of overall codifications, much of which seem pretty much left to history within two generations.  

 

Comments

[Jeff]

Who IS this Elizabeth Woodward anyway? I think I like the "Behave Yourself" cover best, although the "Do Boys Like You?" Ken-doll gathering her folds in to his chivalrous fist is touching. I'm afraid he would be in a different lifestyle today. I printed the How to Rate Another Date list to discuss over tea tonight at home ...

[John Ptak]

I haven't looked very hard but I can't find anything about the personal history of Ms. Woodward. I'm hoping that she was actually B. traven who was actually someone who had like a microdot of estrogen and was named "Stinky Pete". Woodward did write something called "How to be Popular 'Tho Teacher's Pet". I can hardly wait for the movie.

[Jay]

It's really not that much different now. These days you have to starve and mutilate yourself, and spend half of your paycheck on various beauty products and treatments in order to attract Mr. Right. In some ways it's worse. Your appearance is more important than your personality.

[Swanky]

Nothing wrong with that list other than some terminology. Watch Tough Love. Same issues today with people generally being too interested in themselves and not concerned with the other person. Just good conversation and interaction there.

[Emily Post]

@jeff: Who IS this Elizabeth Woodward anyway?

Probably Elizabeth Woodward Magdelain (1906-1980), writer of the "Sub-Deb" column in the Ladies Home Journal in the 1930s and '40s. An Elizabeth Woodward married Philippe Magdelain in Philadelphia in 1939, and is likely the same woman who renewed copyrights on some Ladies Home Journal titles and died in Newtown, Connecticut.

Usually Google is your friend, but it yields up very little on this woman who wrote many things to set social norms for the grandparents of today's teens.

[Diana Cappiello]

I just read the "Rate A Date" list. Honestly, none of that seems like bad advice to me. "Let him run things" might sound harsh to modern ears, but take step back- both of you want to have fun, but you're both human beings with preferences and desires. You both want to feel validated, and you have to allow him to be in control of certain things in order to feel that way. The ability to share control is a subtle and important aspect of a relationship. So long as no one feels trampled or taken advantage of, being comfortable enough to let him take the wheel and make some of the decisions is a good thing.

[crella]

It's not bad advice. 'Did you let him run things' sounds odd, but when invited on a date the proper thing to do is let the person who invited lead. You don't go to a party and start telling the hosts how to make it better, you don't do it on a date either.

Men were just as restricted and expected to know how to ballroom dance as well.

[John F. Ptak]

Ms. Post: thanks very much for supplying this information!

[Wowpoetry]

does anyone know if it is possible to find copies of these pamphlets anywhere today? I'm not sure where to start looking, but i love to collect pieces of etiquette history like this and could love to be able to have it to show my kids! I don't have anything from this tome period. thanks! and love the article!

[Ptak]

Hi Wow--all of these are available through my store. Send along an email if you'd like one/some.